LA DISPUTE AT THE BASEMENT EAST IN NASHVILLE
No barriers, just close friends. Along their three week winter tour, the tour package has played to mostly rooms with barriers, blocking the fans from meeting the stage. Everything is always different in Nashville, apparently. On the crisp December night, fans packed into the Basement East in Nashville to experience the best live performance of the year - La Dispute with friends Touché Amoré and Empath.
Before Touché Amoré or La Dispute could come on playing heartache anthems, they had their good friends, Empath, come on stage to show off their Philadelphia-style noise. Empath is exactly what their genre describes, Noise. That shouldn't be taken negatively. Though their set is full of chaotic instrumentals and manic vocals, everybody in the crowd, including me, enjoyed themselves and push-pitted along.
After Empaths set, Touché Amoré took to the stage to do the same thing they’ve done over and over again, a thousand times; which is delivering the best live show imaginable. As soon as the first line of “~” was played, kids rush to the mic to scream along with Jeremy. The band goes on to play a majority of songs off their most recent albums, including “Method Act,” “Rapture,” and “Honest Sleep”. Also during their set, Jordan Dreyer of La Dispute came on stage to play songs off their 2010 split. Near the end of their set when I took myself to the back to watch, T.A. began to play “Condolences”, and I felt myself begin to break down into tears. Never have I felt so connected to a song played live before.
As La Dispute takes the stage, they open up with “View From Our Bedroom Window” from their newest album Panorama that released earlier this year, and was quickly followed by “The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit”. While the band played familiar songs throughout the night that had everybody stage diving and reaching for the mic, they didn't play the hits, which I found admirable. I could tell for them it was refreashing to do that instead of playing the songs they’re mostly known for, and it gave the hardcore fans even more excitement. They closed their set with “The Last Lost Continent”, which is over twelve-minutes long and I never would have imagined them playing that song live ever, so I was happily surprised.
This was possibly my favorite show I got to witness this year. I truly did enjoy myself.